My alternate ending for 'The Dark Knight Rises' that I can't let go of

I always thought it would have been stronger if Bruce Wayne actually died in the bomb blast at the end... a real sacrifice for the city. The reveal that he and Selina were in Italy felt like a cop-out to me, like they couldn't commit to the tragedy. It would have taken the story maybe five more minutes to show Alfred mourning at a real grave, and then a final shot of the Bat-signal being repaired as a symbol of hope passing to others. Anyone else have a Nolan ending they'd rewrite?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessa8683mo ago

Man, that grave scene would've wrecked me completely.

murray.troy3mo ago

Yeah, tessa868, the way the camera just stayed on his face while he talked to the headstone... you could see every bit of guilt hit him all over again. That quiet delivery did more damage than any big speech could have.

haydenburns27d ago

@tessa868 I used to think those long close-ups were just lazy filmmaking, but this scene totally flipped my mind. That quiet delivery where he's just staring and whispering to the stone, you could practically feel the weight of every word eating him alive. The way he choked up when he said "I shoulda been there" hit way harder than any big speech could. It's got me rethinking all my other hot takes on slow camera work now lol.